I was giving common sense advice about retro gaming.
It was simple things like, “Buy what you can afford”.
This apparently got lots of people upset. One person told me, “How dare you tell people to not buy what they want!”
No, I’m suggesting that people keep a budget and abide by it. Buy what you want when it meets your budget. If you wait for deals, you will find deals. But if you buy things because you must have it now, you will lose your shirt.
Look, I stick to a general game budget of C$40/month ($29/month). This has allowed me to amass a huge library of games. How am I doing it?
Patience.
Take a look at this receipt. I bought Heretic, Hexen, Hexen II – and the Shadow of the Serpent Riders expansion pack – for C$1.09. In American currency, that’s $0.89.
The amount of money I save simply by exercising patience is absurd.
It’s so absurd that a retro collector doesn’t even believe me. They think I’m either lying or “ripped off” an uninformed seller. The notion of paying so little for a “classic” game offended them.
But exercising patience and restraint results in building a gigantic library on the cheap, and more people should be aware that it is possible.
@atomicpoet Geez, there's always a chance the seller was uninformed, but that's a bit presumptuous of that person to assume you took advantage of them.
I got a taste of what it's like trying to unload a ton of stuff I didn't want a couple of years ago when I had a month to empty my mother-in-law's house to prepare her move into assisted living. We started pricing things at market pricing and it only took a week to realize we'd never be done in time if we kept that up so we just wanted things to go to a good home.
It’s definitely an arcade game. I’d say it’s somewhere between air hockey, golf, and Geometry Wars. But such comparisons inevitably fall apart.
You control a circle entirely with one button. That button controls the angle of where it moves and how much torque to give your circle. If you collide with any of the shapes or the wall, it’s an instant game over. Oh yeah, and there’s some power-ups that make things slightly easier for you, but only for a limited time.
And I guess another word I’d use to describe Poosh XL is: minimalist. This is a simple game in the truest sense of the word. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I grew up with an Atari 2600, and I was late to the party too. While other kids were busy enjoying Super Mario Bros. on NES, I was stuck with Missile Command and Asteroids. These games had no storyline nor boss fights nor anything resembling scrolling.
Yet, I was addicted. There was nothing more I wanted than to reach the high score, and then beat my old high score.
That’s pretty much Poosh XL. I’m obsessed with getting further and further, playing longer and longer – beating my previous best. That’s pretty much all I need to be happy with a video game.
The graphics are simple. They’re really just wireframes with a neon glow. And yet this works for me. It looks good to my eye. I would change nothing.
The sound effects do their job. They get me into the action. And there’s the song that plays in the background – I’ve tried playing long enough to get to the end, but I can barely get through one minute in survival mode as it is.
If you noticed that Poosh XL slightly resembles the Atari Recharged series, that’s because Adamvision has made many of the games in that series. Specifically, they made Missile Command: Recharged, Centipede: Recharged, and Black Widow: Recharged. I’ve also reviewed their other games such as Super Bit Blaster XL.
I’m a big fan of Adamvision, they’re one of my favourite indie developers, and I hope to see more of their work.
The Steam reviews are stellar. They currently have a 99% positive rating, and it’s well deserved.
I definitely recommend Poosh XL, especially if you like old school arcade games or grew up with an Atari 2600. This will be up your alley.
Available on Windows, Mac, and Linux, Steam sells Poosh XL for C$6.49. It’s well worth it.
What’s just as annoying as the “I only buy physical games I own it and it’s real” folks are the “I pirate all my games for moral reasons and if you pay for them, you’re a fool.”
Well, I’m not just buying games for the games. I’m buying legal protection.
I agree completely.
Plus you have an obvious storage location (box, etc.)
Talking about software licensing:
For biz reasons (financial SW,) I'm stuck with MS, as it'll run only on Windows. Furthermore, I need Excel and Word. I will try to migrate to Thunderbird, though.
Which Office 2021 type if licenses do you think are safe purchasing used? (Many have been moving to the 365 subscription.)?
Currently having a really silly discussion with someone who insists that buying a game physically means they own it forever, while buying it digitally means it can be taken away.
Oh, really?
Here’s The Crew. The box and disc are selling on Amazon right now for C$56.85:
I say “box and disc” – not game – because you cannot play the game. If you put the disc in your drive, you cannot play it. Ubisoft shut down the servers and have made it impossible to play – and owning the disc makes no difference.
The issue isn’t “physical vs. digital”. It’s “DRM vs. DRM-free”.
Home has been in my library for eight years. It’s a side-scrolling point-and-click horror adventure that can also be controlled with a gamepad.
At the time, it seemed pretty neat – almost like a silent film. At least on the sound front it’s really good with audio mixing that is superb.
But after 15 years of excellent pixel art graphics, I’m kind of underwhelmed here. I know that the graphics aren’t meant to blow me away, but at the same time, I find them displeasing. The sprites are way too big, and too much of the screen is blank. Perhaps the developer was going for “spookiness” but this didn’t feel spooky to me, just annoying.
The other thing is, after hours of playing this game, I don’t understand the story. I realize that you’re supposed to discover it as the game goes on, but come on, giving me some breadcrumbs – something that reveals more about who I am and what I’m doing. At the very least, give me a sense of story progression.
Thing is, if you’re not buying a game for the visuals then the game better have a good story. And I don’t see much of a story here, so I have a hard time keeping engaged. It takes a lot more than a few jump scares to keep my interest.
Not every indie-made video game is a transcendent experience, and I’m fine with that. This is what it is – a unique approach in adventure gaming with a retro aesthetic that was novel for the time.
I do appreciate that this game was made by solo developer Benjamin Rivers. There was a lot of love put into this game. And I’d rather play this game than Call of Duty.
Steam sells Home for C$6.49. While I appreciate the effort, it’s hard to recommend Home at that price – especially when there’s so many better games that are more affordable.
But perhaps I’m quibbling. At the end of the day, this is an indie game for less than the price of a happy meal.
Look, if you want to pay out the nose at used game retailers who keep telling you, “Let me check eBay…” then you do you.
There’s a very good reason that the bulk of my games library is now bought on Steam, Epic, itch.io and GOG.com, and that’s because those are the places where the deals happen.
I stopped caring about “physical” 10 years ago when putting a disc in a console prompted me for an “update” that took me two hours of downloading. And the whole retail experience put a bad taste in my mouth when Game Stop started selling boxes that contained no discs – only download codes.
But for me the nail in the coffin is when I see a DRM-free games sold at a pittance online, and the boxed copy sells for 10x more. At a certain point, I realize all we’re paying for is an “official” box. The actual game is a few dollars.
It would generally be cheaper to just buy the box and assemble all the stuff GOG.com gives me and put it in my own box! Just the box would cost me $30.
Or hell, if I want to make it more personal and save even more money, I can just make my own damn box! Because, you see, after I pay for my copy of Thief on GOG.com, it would still be cheaper to go to my local printers and have them print and assemble a box.
That is, if I want to be fancy. I can always just order a DVD case and print my own glossy paper.
In fact VGBoxArt.com has lots of box art designs for Thief, making it very easy to go that route:
By now, I know that collectors are shaking their fists.
“What if you sell these bootlegs and don’t inform people they’re bootlegs?”
Well, I won’t. They’re for me.
“What about compensating the developers?”
The developers make no money from re-sold copies of a game, but I guarantee that they’re making money from GOG.com, Steam, itch.io, and other storefronts.
“What if you die, and during an estate sale someone buys your bootlegs?”
Then I hope someone enjoys the game and doesn’t attempt to flip it on eBay because games are meant to be played.
I’m done with sketchy used game retailers trying to milk as much money out of me as possible. Other people might enjoy participating in this circus but as for me, unless I find a good deal, I’m going digital.
In this game, you take part in a proletariat revolution to dismantle the capitalist state! You do it by taking to the streets, throwing bricks and Molotov cocktails at the police, and freeing more workers to join your revolution.
Some folks might feel that a game like this is distasteful and “too political”. Yeah, and Call of Duty is not? Or what about America’s Army – which is literally made by the U.S. Army?
In this game’s fictional world, the State has it coming. They enslave workers, perform medical experiments on them, and treat them like complete chattel. So yeah, I don’t mind toppling a few vehicles.
In terms of gameplay, this is fantastic. It’s a cross between a beat ‘em up and an RTS. You take control of one worker who feeds the pigs some brass knuckles. And you direct your workers to a strategic area to take care of the trash.
It’s as though Streets of Rage and Command & Conquer had a baby – and I’m all for it.
But wait! There’s more! You’re not just taking on police and the dirty capitalists – you’re fighting mutant kaiju! And you, along with all the workers you’ve organized, are going to take them down!
The graphics are superb. Like many video games, it uses 8-bit pixel art with lots of sprites. But it is also incredibly beautiful. There’s this one level at the docks where you fight through a heavy blizzard, and it is sheer eye candy.
Just as awesome is the sound design. As you’re skulking down the streets, dismantling authority, you’re accompanied by pulse-pounding synthwave music. I wish the soundtrack was available as DLC because I would buy this and listen to it in my car.
Is this game made by a bunch of capitalists who want to exploit the aesthetics of revolution? Nope!
It’s made by Pixel Pushers Union 512, a worker-owned co-operative. And it is published by Means Interactive – also a worker-owned co-operative – and a member of U.S. Federation of Worker Coopatives. In other words, all the profits made from this game go back to the creatives who made it.
Whenever I bring up a co-operative entity that does something cool, a “real” socialist pops up to tell me how they’re not actually socialist. And you know what? I don’t care. I talk about blatantly capitalist developers all the time, and nobody tells me they’re not “real” capitalists. For some reason, socialists are addicted to purity tests.
Nevertheless, I hope Pixel Pushers Union 512 makes another game because Tonight We Riot is so good. Definitely one of the most unique games I’ve ever played, it shows just what a co-operative video game developer is capable of producing.
On GOG.com, Tonight We Riot sells for C$17.49. I think it’s worth buying – not only because it’s a good game, but because how it’s made.
LostWinds 2: Winter of the Melodias will likely forever be a hidden gem because it was never released physically. It was originally a WiiWare title. And as anyone who’s ever followed Nintendo knows, Nintendo tends to shut down their console storefronts – which means WiiWare no longer exists.
This game was also available on iPhone and iPad. But Apple, being who they are, removed LostWinds from the App Store during what’s now known as the 32-bit Apocalypse.
PC is now the only legal way to play LostWinds 2. I mean, sure, you can find Wii and iPhone ROMs on various dodgy sites. But legally speaking, PC is the only way to play LostWinds 2.
People regularly talk about “hidden gem” video games. Oftentimes, I’m skeptical about how hidden these gems actually are. Now I understand that one person’s obscurity is another’s person’s childhood. However, if barely anyone remembers it, and it’s good, then it’s probably a hidden gem.
LostWinds 2 is a unique metroidvania platformer. Instead of jumping from platform to platform, you are carried by a gust of wind. One the Wii, this wind was the WiiMote; while on the PC, it’s you’re mouse.
Unlike the original LostWinds, LostWinds 2 primarily takes place in a cold setting called “Melodias”. The bulk of the game is about controlling fire and snow and using these two elements to solve puzzles.
Control is mostly intuitive. However, I think LostWinds 2 is harder to grasp than the original LostWinds because now we have to contend with vortices and manipulating object with them. This can often slowdown the pace of the game, and can get quite frustrating when it doesn’t work as planned. But other than that, the game is quite enjoyable to control.
The graphics on PC are not all that different from the Wii version. Essentially, this is low poly 2.5D. For a game that was originally 480p, it looks quite good.
I also enjoy the music, the ambient background sounds, and the sound effects – especially when the wind interacts with the environment.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this game is that it was made by Frontier Developments. Most famously, they are known for the Elite series. But they’ve also developed the Jurassic World and F1 Manager series.
One of the things that sets LostWinds 2 apart from so many platformers isn’t just the use of the wind mechanic but also its unique world. Despite all the baddies making your day miserable, it has a cozy feel. I’m glad it’s still available to play, if only on PC – and it should be played.
LostWinds 2 is available on Steam for C$10.99. I recommend it. It’s probably the best Wii game nobody talks about.